Jindal: Obama's woes flow out of big government philosophy

By Bobby Jindal, Special to CNN

Updated 1411 GMT (2111 HKT) May 24, 2013

Photos: Key players in the IRS scandal10 photos

Key players in the IRS scandal – IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is facing tough questions about an unknown number of missing agency e-mails due to hard drive crashes. Republicans are especially interested in e-mails belonging to former IRS official Lois Lerner as lawmakers investigate the agency's targeting of conservative tax-exempt groups.

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Photos: Key players in the IRS scandal10 photos

Key players in the IRS scandal – Lois Lerner is sworn in before testifying to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in May 2013. As the former IRS director of exempt organizations, Lerner headed the division involved in targeting conservative groups. She invoked her constitutional right against self-incrimination and refused to answer questions from the congressional committee.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – Sens. Max Baucus, left, and Orrin Hatch, co-chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee, confer in Washington in May 2013, during a hearing regarding the targeting of conservative groups.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – Former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman is sworn in prior to testifying before the Senate Finance Committee in May 2013. Shulman was at the helm of the IRS during most of the period that agents were targeting conservative groups. Shulman denied full awareness of what was happening at the time, saying subordinates failed to inform him of the details.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has held multiple hearings on the IRS controversy.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – Steve Miller, former acting commissioner of the IRS, testifies before the House Ways and Means Committee in May 2013. The committee held a hearing to examine revelations that the IRS singled out for scrutiny conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – Rep. Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is among the GOP members who have sought to depict the controversy as government gone wild, with the IRS abusing conservative groups and other political foes of the administration.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testifies during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee in May 2013. The day before, Holder announced a Justice Department investigation into any possible criminal wrongdoing by the IRS.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – Former acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel, left, testifies before the House Financial and General Government Subcommittee with Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George, right, in June 2013.

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Key players in the IRS scandal – Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George is sworn in before testifying in Washington in May 2013. According to his report, the IRS developed and followed a faulty policy for determining whether applicants were engaged in political activities, which would disqualify the groups from receiving tax-exempt status.

Story highlights

He says controversies flow out of a belief in the virtues of big government

Jindal: Bill Clinton declared end of era of big government; Obama has restored it

The latest problems with the IRS witch hunt, the seizure of phone records from The Associated Press, the conflicting Benghazi stories and disastrous attempts to enforce Obamacare may all seem unrelated, but they are not.

Each of these events is the direct byproduct of two central philosophies of the Obama administration -- the massive expansion of the size and power of the federal government and a lack of trust in the American people.

These scandals were bound to happen. In fact, it was inevitable, and there will be more. President Obama has grown the size, the scope, the debt and the power of the federal government to such irresponsible proportions that problems like these are an inevitable result.

In a pathetic attempt to defend President Obama, another noted statesman, David Axelrod, said that the president couldn't possibly know about all these scandals because "the government is so vast." Therein lies the problem. The government is so vast.

Just a few years ago, President Clinton assured us that the era of big government was over. He could not have been more wrong. Now we have not just big government, but big brother running big government.

We don't know what the president knew of these matters before they became public, and it strains credulity to suggest that his top political advisers were in the dark. But again, when you grow government this big, these kinds of scandals are inevitable, and he bears the responsibility for that.

Are these scandals the byproduct of liberalism or incompetence? I'd say the answer to that question is yes, both.

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The Obama presidency, and liberalism in general, are based on not trusting the American people -- a belief that big government is better for people. The latest scandals show why liberalism and big government don't work.

The scandals cut at the core ideology of the Obama presidency. Indeed, these issues aren't just the failure of an individual, but the failure of a system in which liberals put too much trust in big government.

Look at liberalism across every issue, from healthcare to energy to spending, and one thing is crystal clear: Liberals don't believe in the dynamic and transformative power of freedom. Bigger government and more power in the hands of a few means the interests of the public will be violated.

Many are wondering aloud if these scandals will tarnish Obama's legacy or weaken his presidency or cause his popularity to drop. Some of that will probably occur, but it's not the ever-charming Obama who will suffer the most from these scandals. No, fortunately the biggest loser here will be the paternalistic big government liberalism that Obama has foisted upon us.

We need leaders who have more confidence in the American people, and more skepticism for big government. Maybe we can get Clinton to pronounce the second end of the era of big government? It's time for Big Brother to be put down.